Have you filed your comments on the proposed 160m changes yet?

[K4KYV]

The deadline is the 25th of this month.  Just 17 more days left.

http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=6017162926


So far, the response from the amateur community has been disappointing. Nothing from ARRL yet, but they probably will submit something.

http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/proceeding/view?name=12-338


Here's how to file:

http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/userManual/ecfsmanual.jsp


Don't let's give the FCC the impression that few hams care about maintaining and preserving this band.

[N8NSN]

According to what I am getting out of reading the following copy-paste from the ARRL web site: the changes to 160 meters are a benefit to the amateur radio service. Am I not comprehending this correctly? From the way I read it we amateurs are getting 1800 to 2000 kc exclusively, now. Where as previously, 1900 to 2000 kc were a secondary (non-interference ) basis where the radio-locations "shared" that part of the band with the amateur radio service. It reads as if the rls has abandoned the 1900-2000 kc segment. Likely, IMO- due to satellite technology primarilly being used - via GPS.

Any thoughts would be appreciated... Especially if I'm misunderstanding any implications of the proposal.

72



Allocation Changes to 160 Meter Band

The FCC is proposing to change the Amateur Radio Service allocation to the 160 meter band (1800-2000 kHz), reallocating the 1900-2000 kHz segment to the Amateur Radio Service on a primary basis. In the NPRM, the FCC noted that “the ARRL has identified the 160 meter band and the amateur HF bands as ‘y far, the heaviest-used [Amateur Service] allocations.’”

Historically, the 1715-2000 kHz band was allocated exclusively to the Amateur Service. In 1953, the FCC removed the 1715-1800 kHz segment from the Amateur Radio Service and allocated the 1800-2000 kHz band to the Amateur Service on a shared basis with the Radionavigation Service. Then in 1983, the FCC allocated the 1800-1900 kHz band to the Amateur Service on an exclusive basis and the 1900-2000 kHz band to the Radiolocation Service on a primary basis for federal and non-federal use and to the Amateur Service on a secondary basis. The FCC stated that “[t]he purpose of allocating this band [1900-2000 kHz] to the Radiolocation Service was to provide reaccommodation spectrum for radiolocation users that will have to move out of the 1605-1705 kHz band when AM broadcasting is implemented in that band.” The AM broadcasting proceeding was resolved in 2000, and a review of the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS) database finds that no one is licensed to use this non-federal Radiolocation Service allocation.

Currently, federal use of the 1900-2000 kHz segment is light, with only 10 assignments authorized to operate in this segment. “A single federal assignment authorizes land and mobile stations in the Radiolocation Service to transmit on 1922 kHz using a necessary bandwidth of 600 Hz within a protected radius of 193 kilometers centered on San Diego, California,” the FCC noted in the NPRM. “All other federal assignments in the 1900-2000 kHz band are for unallocated uses, and thus, these assignments operate on an unprotected and non-interference basis.”

The FCC is proposing to amend the US Table of Allocations and remove the federal and non-federal Radiolocation Service allocations from the 1900-2000 kHz band and the raise the secondary Amateur Radio Service allocation to primary status because “there appear to be few (if any) Radiolocation Service stations operating in this band,” it said. “In addition, we note [from WARC-79] that ‘this [Radiolocation Service] allocation was made for reaccommodation purposes and not to provide additional spectrum for radiolocations needs,’ that the Commission has concluded its AM Expanded Band proceeding that would have prompted non-federal RLS licensees to relocate to the 1900-2000 kHz band and that this band was historically allocated to the Amateur Service on an exclusive basis.”

[WD4CHP]

 no

[K4KYV]

According to what I am getting out of reading the following copy-paste from the ARRL web site: the changes to 160 meters are a benefit to the amateur radio service. Am I not comprehending this correctly? From the way I read it we amateurs are getting 1800 to 2000 kc exclusively, now. Where as previously, 1900 to 2000 kc were a secondary (non-interference ) basis where the radio-locations "shared" that part of the band with the amateur radio service. It reads as if the rls has abandoned the 1900-2000 kc segment. Likely, IMO- due to satellite technology primarilly being used - via GPS.

Any thoughts would be appreciated... Especially if I'm misunderstanding any implications of the proposal.

I think you understand the point correctly. Click on the above links to the FCC site. The original FCC Notice can be viewed at http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/comment/view?id=6017137896
Scroll down to paragraph 20 on page 11.

Of course this is now a proposal and nothing is set in stone; no guarantee the FCC will act on it exactly as proposed.  We have yet to see if Radiolocation interests file comments in opposition, even though they are not using the segment right now. They might still want to hold onto the spectrum allocation.  That's why amateurs should file comments in support of the Commission's proposal, giving any good reason you can think of to justify the change as something in the public interest.  

It's not very often that the FCC takes the initiative to give something of benefit to the amateur community without our first having to petition for it.  We need to show our support and appreciation for their action in this matter.

Don

[W5FYI]

Just curious, why did you refer to mHz (millihertz) in your proposal when you clearly meant MHz?  I know it's moot; the FCC will figure it out.

[K4KYV]

Just curious, why did you refer to mHz (millihertz) in your proposal when you clearly meant MHz?  I know it's moot; the FCC will figure it out.

I have never heard the term millhertz, although I suppose such a thing exists. Wouldn't something with that long a period be referred to in terms of a time constant in milliseconds or seconds, instead of frequency? I recall always seeing it written as kHz and mHz, with the H in upper case because it is the abbreviation for a proper name. Maybe I never paid it any attention.  My spell  checker wants me to write it a KHz, but kHz is the format the FCC uses, and it would logically follow to use the same format for mHz. Where did you find that MHz and mHz have different meanings?  Actually, what I first learnt, before 1964, was mc/s and kc/s.

Don

[W8AAZ]

Right now an effective antenna for 1.8 MHz. is just as unattainable as a 10 millihertz one, for me.  But I have listened there for decades, even thru the old loran grind.